Dingo (Finnish rock band)

Dingo is a Finnish rock band formed around 1982, which became one of the most popular Finnish bands in history. The band's style fused Finnish melancholy with catchy rock melodies. The band was led by the frontman Pertti Neumann (also known as Pertti Nieminen). For a few years at its peak, Dingo was one of the most popular Finnish rock bands and caused a phenomenon called "Dingomania" all over Finland. The band's popularity was most prominent among teenage girls, although the band had listeners in all age groups. Dingo's number one hit was "Autiotalo" from 1984, also released in English as "The House without a Name". A separate youth culture was formed in Finland, known as the Dingoes. Their success, however, was short-lived, and Dingo broke up in October 1986. The band regrouped in 1998 and continues to perform occasionally. The band has sold over 500,000 records in Finland. Dingo has also released the songs "Tell Me Now" (1986), "Tobacco Road" (1986) and "House Without A Name" (1986) in English. In early 1982 Pertti "Neumann" Nieminen started forming a new band for himself after his previous band MAC had broken up. Juha "Quuppa" Seitonen became the drummer for the new band and Jonttu Virta from the band Kieltolaki became the guitarist. At first, Neumann himself played the bass guitar instead of singing the vocals. The band was first named Sous-Pierre, which was soon shortened to Soho. However, a band in the United Kingdom was already using the name Soho, so the name of Neumann's new band was changed to Dingo. There are several different versions for the origin of the name Dingo. Neumann has later recollected that he thought of the name while reading a foreign magazine at a kiosk. According to Jonttu Virta, the name Dingo came from one of the band's first songs, Nimeni on Dingo, which predated the band's name. Through different phases the band reached its permanent line-up and sent a demo to a number of labels including Finnlevy, CBS, EMI and Poko Rekords. Poko Rekords rejected the demo and there has been a rumour that the demo "accidentally" ended up in the wrong drawer. Hans Rautio, CBS's chief of marketing at the time, has later recollected that the reason why CBS rejected Dingo's demo was its bad quality and the vocalist's unique style which he thought still needed improvement. On the other hand, it took only one song to convince Finnlevy, Hölmöläisten laiva. The demo also contained the band's later hit "Sinä ja minä". In June 1983 Timo Lindström from Finnlevy became interested in Dingo after the band had performed at Finnlevy's talent seeking event and the band got a record deal. Dingo recorded their first album Nimeni on Dingo before they started playing live gigs. The album sold well right from the beginning, though the band was initially in the shadow of another popular band from Pori, Yö, whose debut album Varietee had sold over 60,000 copies and instantly become number 1 on various charts. However, Nimeni on Dingo also went on to become a number one album and eventually outsold Yö's debut album. Hits on Dingo's debut album included Sinä ja minä, Levoton Tuhkimo, Lakatut varpaankynnet and Pistoolisankari. In January 1984 Dingo's song Sinä ja minä appeared on the Levyraati game show which it also ended up winning. The band's debut album Nimeni on Dingo was published in April 1984 and remained among the most sold albums in Finland for the whole year. Pave Maijanen was selected as the band's producer. An alternative to him would have been Jimi Sumén but Neumann ended up choosing Maijanen over him. Maijanen's role in Dingo's career has been said to have been so significant that he has even been called "the sixth Dingo". In the 1980s Dingo became also known for Neumann's make-up and colourful outfits. Dingo's style of dressing was mainly influenced by the earlier band Hanoi Rocks. The make-up and colourful outfits the band wore also caused opposition to the band among some circles. The band had to endure shout-outs and name calling. Dingo's success brought them a lot of fans. Dingo gained a reputation for being idolized by many teenagers. The blonde frontman Neumann was especially idolized, causing controversy in the rock circles. After Eve left the band and replaced by Pepe at the end of 1984, the new single "Autiotalo" was released. The single climbed to the number one position on every chart and the band reached even greater fame. Dingo was no longer considered to be a band for teenage girls only, and they found fame among older people, including the teenagers' parents. 1985 was Dingo's most successful year. In February 1985 the band was doing a photoshoot for their next album Kerjäläisten valtakunta in Agadir, Morocco. In the next month the album rose to the top spot in Finnish album ranking lists. By the time the album Kerjäläisten valtakunta was published, the number of pre-orders reached the amount of a Finnish gold record (over 50 000 copies). The album remained as a number one for three to four months and in the end sold around 190 000 copies. Every song on the album became a hit, especially the single Kirjoitan. It can be said that Dingo became an all time number one in all aspects: fame, hysteria, sales, media value and the impact on Finnish rock music at the time. They influenced several different Finnish bands and musicians such as Pyhät Nuket (the hit Enkelit sulkivat silmänsä), SIG and Pave Maijanen. Kerjäläisten valtakunta still remains the fourth-most sold Finnish album of all time. The band's huge popularity also influenced the band's income. Dingo's average gig compensation was 30 thousand Finnish markka per gig, which was three times as high as that of other Finnish rock bands. On Midsummer in 1985 Dingo earned 130 thousand markka for one single gig, which was an unprecedented amount of money for a domestic artist in Finland at the time. The year 1984 was the year of the "Dingo fever". It was no longer a question of rock music alone, but a sociologically interesting phenomenon as well. Dingo was not only a rock band but also a corporation. The band members were seen on TV programs and on magazine covers. The band members got their first touch of the "Dingo fever" in March 1984 when the band started touring in Evijärvi. 3,700 people who had bought a ticket arrived at the scene, many of whom started shouting and screaming upon seeing the band. This hysteria came as a complete surprise to the band. In the summer the band was signing autographs at the Pukeva store in Helsinki. The situation rapidly became chaotic when hysterical fans started accidentally knocking down shelves. In the end the director of the Pukeva store had to tell Dingo to leave the store before the hysterical fans would destroy it entirely. According to Peter von Bagh and Ilpo Hakasalo the "Dingo fever" of 1984 to 1985 was a unique phenomenon in the history of Finnish popular culture. According to von Bagh and Hakasalo, the last time such phenomenal idol worship had happened was at the time of Elvis Presley in the 1950s and The Beatles in the 1960s. The Dingo fandom was most prominent among teenage girls. Fans wanted to come as close to their idols as possible, and the pressure caused by massive groups of people caused tens of girls to faint. The hysteria surrounding to Dingo started influencing the daily lives of the band members. They could no longer even walk around on the street without a hysterical group of fans surrounding them. "Dingo's records are being sold like Päätalo's books and girls are falling down like grandmas at Yli-Vainio's meetings." (Journalist Arvo Tuominen at the A-studio TV show in 1985.) The hysterical fans also tried to enter the band's backstage rooms or their tour bus by force, and ran after the bus. The most enthusiastic fans set up camp around the band members' apartments in hopes of getting an autograph. There were organised trips to Pori including descriptions of the band members' homes. For example, one time when the band's